Calorie Restriction Can Slow Alzheimer’s Disease

August 13th, 2012 by Dr. Keith Nemec

U.S. researchers have found that a low-carbohydrate diet that reduces total calorie intake by 30 percent slowed the development of Alzheimer’s disease in mice. Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine said the diet eliminated the onset of amyloid plaque — an underlying cause of Alzheimer’s — in mice that were genetically engineered to develop the disease.

They started the mice on the diet when they were 3 months old, which is considered young adult and is prior to the age when Alzheimer’s-prone mice begin to develop plaques in the brain. They then evaluated the mice at age 12 months, which when plaques are known to be well-developed in the mouse strain. The researchers found less plaque development in mice fed the restricted-calorie diet.

There is only one thing that has proven to increase longevity in everything from yeast to worms to rodents to monkeys and that one thing is calorie restriction (CR). All research demonstrates when calories are cut in half lifespan increases lifespan by 50%. This one behavior that has proven to increase health and lifespan fits beautifully with a plant based diet because when one eats raw vegetables, living sprouts, seeds, legumes and nuts it is easy to cut calories by 50% and still feel full. The fiber contributes to the fullness along with the nutrient denseness of living/raw food.

In the first study with a 30% decrease in calories in mice prone to Alzheimer’s disease showed less plaque formation in the brain in the calorie restricted mice as compared to the non-calorie restricted mice.

In the second study a different version of CR was tested on adults where for three weeks they fasted with no calories one day and were allowed to eat as much as they wanted on the next day. In general, they lost weight but most importantly their insulin levels decreased by an average of 57%. This means less sugar in the blood and sugar feeds all bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and cancer cells. When you decrease sugar and decrease insulin, you decrease diseases and increase health.

So the steps you can make toward a longer, healthier life is to move your diet progressively to a living/raw plant based diet eliminating animal products, sugars, cooked or processed starches. The more living and raw your diet is, the more living you will be. Always remember “Living food makes living/healthy people and dead/cooked food makes diseased/dead people.”